Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Kirio Hikifune’s Cuisine
Chapter 38: Kirio Hikifune’s Cuisine
The next day, Yato Uchiha was jolted awake by Hiyori Sarugaki’s loud, grating voice.
"Hey, hey, hey! Get up! Yato!"
"...Could you not stand on my bed?" Yato said through a yawn.
"You’re a girl, you know. You should at least try to maintain your image occasionally, Lieutenant Sarugaki."
"Ugly freak, none of your business!" Hiyori remained as unreasonable as ever.
"Assembly!"
Yato put on his clothes, quickly washed his face, and followed Hiyori into the Captain’s office.
Inside the spacious room, the high-ranking Seated Officers of the 12th Division were seated on the floor.
Kirio Hikifune’s beautiful face looked somewhat lethargic.
"Little Hiyori, little Yato. You’re here."
"Captain!" The Lieutenant and the 3rd Seat responded respectfully.
Kirio Hikifune picked up a towel, soaked it in cold water, and slapped it onto her face. Her voice sounded muffled:
"The expeditionary force in Hueco Mundo has encountered unexpected trouble. Over the next few days, the majority of the 11th Division will pass through the Senkaimon to provide reinforcements in Hueco Mundo. Therefore, we need to draft strong individuals from other Divisions to take over the 11th Division’s duties."
"Yato Uchiha, tomorrow you will report to the 11th Division barracks."
"As for when you’ll return... that is temporarily uncertain. It might take a few months."
Yato Uchiha had no objections and respectfully accepted the order.
Beside him, Hiyori Sarugaki wore a miserable expression—with the 3rd Seat away on an assignment, her workload was guaranteed to increase significantly!
"Also, all of you need to be careful lately," the purple-haired Captain’s tone turned serious.
"Because a massive portion of the 11th Division has gone to Hueco Mundo to fight, many bugs have crawled into the Soul Society. Over these past few days, there have been successive reports of squad members, and even Seated Officers, going missing. Try to travel in groups as much as possible."
"That’s all. Dismissed... Oh, right. Yato, you stay behind."
The Seated Officers filed out one by one, leaving only the boy.
"Captain," having worked under her for over half a year, Yato was quite familiar with Kirio Hikifune. He asked curiously:
"What kind of trouble did the 11th Division run into in Hueco Mundo? Don’t tell me it’s that King of Hueco Mundo..."
"Bastard! What King of Hueco Mundo? It’s that damn fat pig!" The purple-haired woman didn’t hold back her curses.
"A dignified Captain of the 11th Division, the current Kenpachi, completely ignored the operational plan and arbitrarily expanded the combat zone, forcing the Seireitei to send reinforcements!"
"This battle is escalating rapidly. Who knows how many Soul Reapers will have to be sacrificed."
"Little Yato, remember this: every single Kenpachi is a lunatic. Stay far away from them!"
"Don’t be angry, Captain." Seeing his boss like this, Yato instinctively tried to comfort her.
"After all, the dead cannot be brought back to life. Those sacrificed Soul Reapers..."
"That’s not what I’m angry about." The purple-haired woman stretched lazily, her exquisite curves faintly visible beneath her Shihakusho.
"The balance of souls between the three realms cannot be broken. If too many Soul Reapers die in battle, we have to eradicate a corresponding number of Hollows. We might even have to suppress the population of souls in the World of the Living... It’s so annoying."
Yato abruptly froze. He carefully studied the beautiful, lethargic Captain in front of him, capturing Kirio Hikifune’s underlying thought process for the very first time.
Nine hundred years ago, during the era when Yhwach led the Quincies to invade the Soul Society, Kirio Hikifune was already a rising star.
Although she wasn’t selected as a Captain during the founding of the original Gotei 13, she had served as a Lieutenant in one of the Divisions, fighting bloody battles alongside the Seireitei’s absolute top-tier powerhouses.
Later on, annihilating invading enemies, massacring the entire Quincy tribe, suppressing Ryoka and rebels countless times...
Having sat in the Captain’s seat for eight hundred years, she had truly witnessed far too much life and death.
Kirio Hikifune might be a good person, but in her eyes, Hollows, Soul Reapers, and the World of the Living had long since mutated into mere "tools for balance."
In the original story, when the Quincies invaded Hueco Mundo and slaughtered a massive number of Hollows, Mayuri Kurotsuchi ordered the "complete purification" of the Rukongai residents in a specific district to maintain the balance of souls. Although the method was incredibly cold-blooded, it received the tacit approval of Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
It could be said that while the current status quo—the separation of the three realms and the concealment of Hell—maintained long-term stability, it also bred many grotesque and twisted realities.
Whether this was ultimately good or bad, Yato couldn’t figure out.
These were matters that only an omnipotent god truly seated upon the throne could fully comprehend.
"Let’s not talk about that damn fat pig anymore," Kirio Hikifune let out a long sigh.
"Come with me, little Yato."
She pulled the towel off her face, opened a hidden door behind her desk, and walked in.
Yato followed. Before he even reached the end of the passage, he couldn’t help but sniff the air.
"Smells good, doesn’t it?" The purple-haired Captain stepped aside, revealing the spread on the table.
"Beef stewed in red wine, mushroom pot with milk cap, baked escargot, gold leaf sea urchin sushi... I poured my heart and soul into every single dish." She paused, her smile holding a profound meaning:
"And my Spiritual Pressure."
Yato’s gaze swept across the array of delicacies, finally understanding why Kirio Hikifune looked so drained.
As the Soul Reaper who invented the "Artificial Soul," Hikifune’s understanding of souls stood at the very pinnacle of the Soul Society. She could even expend massive amounts of Spiritual Pressure, utilizing unfathomable techniques, to create cuisine infused with the very essence of a soul!
"Thank you very much, Captain Hikifune." Yato Uchiha bowed to the purple-haired woman with the utmost formality before sitting down at the chair.
He consumed the dishes imbued with mysterious power one by one.
Although her limbs felt weak and her Spiritual Pressure was nearing rock bottom, seeing someone so reverently eating the food she had painstakingly prepared couldn’t help but make Kirio Hikifune’s lips curl upward.
"Eat slowly, little Yato," she sat beside him, smiling as she conversed with her subordinate.
"My Spiritual Pressure is different from others."
"The Captain-Commander’s Spiritual Pressure is like an eternally burning sun; Retsu Unohana’s Spiritual Pressure can practically plunge people into an endless hell of death; and Captain Saito—"
Kirio Hikifune’s eyes seemed to dim for a moment, but the change was fleeting, too fast to catch.
"Oh, your generation probably doesn’t know her. She was the founding Captain of the 6th Division nine hundred years ago. Her Spiritual Pressure was as unpredictable as a hurricane over the ocean. As for my Spiritual Pressure... it can catalyze the souls of others."
"Through the medium of cuisine, my Spiritual Pressure is broken down into a peculiar type of nutrient, somewhat akin to organic soil."
"When my Spiritual Pressure and yours intertwine, it will eventually catalyze a new Spiritual Pressure. As for how much stronger you’ll become? I don’t know. It depends on your luck."
"The development of the Artificial Soul was also inspired by the unique properties of my own Spiritual Pressure."
Yato Uchiha sensed that the Captain sitting beside him seemed somewhat melancholic.
Although he didn’t know where this sorrow stemmed from, nor how to comfort her, Yato knew he could just eat with more gusto.
—This behavior was the absolute best way to win a chef’s favor, bar none.
Eventually, the entire table of cuisine was polished off.
"Just stay here for today and adapt to your entirely new Spiritual Pressure." Kirio Hikifune patted the boy on the shoulder.
"This meal was an order from Captain-Commander Yamamoto. He seems to think very highly of you."
"It’s truly strange. I’ve known him for nearly a thousand years, and it’s extremely rare to see Captain-Commander Yamamoto take the initiative like this..."
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